Sewee

The Sewee or "Islanders" were a Native American tribe that lived in present-day South Carolina in North America.

In 1670, the English founded the coastal town of Charleston in the Carolina Colony on land belonging to the Sewee. The town flourished from trade with the Sewee and neighboring tribes. The Sewee exchanged their deer hides for manufactured goods and beads from the English. However, the Sewee, who received only five percent of what buyers in England paid for their deer skins, felt that this business was unfair. Upon noting that the English ships always came in at the same location, they were confident that it was the direct route to England. They believed that by rowing to the point on the horizon where the ships first appeared, they could reach England, and once there, establish more profitable, direct trade. Therefore, the Sewee nation decided to build a navy.